Fructosamine is an alternative blood test to hemoglobin a1c for measuring glucose levels in people with diabetes over the past 2-3 weeks. It is useful for monitoring changes in therapy and during pregnancy. Trends in fructosamine levels are more important than absolute percentages. It is not useful for screening for diabetes.
Fructosamine is one of the blood tests that can be done to measure the blood glucose levels of people who have diabetes. Many people with this disease check their blood glucose levels daily with a home blood sugar meter. However, glucose levels can fluctuate throughout the day, and doctors often want to know the overall levels of this sugar in the blood. Usually, glucose control is monitored by the hemoglobin a1c test, which determines blood sugar levels over the past three months. The fructosamine test is an alternative test that determines glucose levels over the previous 2-3 weeks.
The common symptom of different types of diabetes mellitus is excessive blood glucose levels. Over time, high sugar levels can severely damage your kidneys, eyes, feet, and cardiovascular system. Therefore, diabetes is treated aggressively, often with medication. To determine the effectiveness of the treatment regimen, patients typically check their blood sugar levels at least once a day with a blood sugar meter. It may seem like glucose levels are at their ideal levels, but levels can change wildly throughout the day.
To get a more accurate measurement of glucose levels over time, doctors frequently do blood tests to evaluate the average glucose level over a period of time. There are two commonly performed laboratory tests to check blood glucose levels: the hemoglobin a1c test and the fructosamine test. Both measure the amount of glucose that has bound to proteins in the blood, known as glycated proteins. The amount of these proteins is much higher in people who have poorly controlled diabetes. Many factors affect the amount of free glucose in the blood, but changes in glycated protein levels occur much more slowly and give much more reproducible readings.
The fructosamine measurement detects the reaction product of glucose that has bound to the accessible amino group on a protein such as albumin, for example, giving glycated albumin. This test measures your glucose levels over the past 2-3 weeks. It is an alternative to the more common hemoglobin a1c test, which can give false readings for patients with blood problems such as hemolytic or sickle cell anemia.
Additional reasons to use this alternative hematology method include the need to measure blood sugar levels during pregnancy. Due to the mother’s hormonal changes, women with gestational diabetes can have rapid changes in blood sugar. Doctors want to monitor these changes much more frequently than the three-month period offered by the standard test. With the fructosamine test, they check blood sugar levels for the past 2-3 weeks.
Patients often undergo changes in their therapy. Your blood sugar levels may need to be checked frequently to determine the effect of these changes. The fructosamine test is more suitable than the glycated hemoglobin test for measuring the rapidly changing glucose levels of such patients.
It is more important to look at trends when evaluating fructosamine levels than to analyze the absolute percentage. Falling levels suggest that glucose levels are being brought under better control. Rising levels suggest otherwise. This test is not useful for screening for diabetes. At the lower end of the test, it is not clear whether a patient has well controlled diabetes or whether he is disease free.
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